Saudi TV channel boss jailed

A Saudi Arabian criminal court has sentenced a TV channel owner and presenter to 12 years, and has forbidden the individual to leave the country for a further 20 years after release. The individual – who has not been officially identified – is already serving a 5-year sentence for alleged financial offences connected to Libya during the Gaddafi era.

Various Middle East sources have named the individual as Wajdi al-Ghazzawi, who is alleged to have claimed that terrorism and the Al Qaeda organisation have their roots in Saudi Arabia, and were exported to other countries from the kingdom.

Specifically, the court found that in a show transmitted from Egypt (on the Internet) the presenter also claimed that Saudi Arabia humiliated its citizens and ignored their human rights. Al-Ghazzawi has 30 days in which to lodge an appeal.